The bride-to-be is the daughter of Mike and Lisa Ping of Nikiski. She is a 2007 graduate of Nikiski High School and is attending New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, N.M., where she is studying kinesiology. She plans to graduate in December 2011.

The future groom is the son of Jerry and Yvonne Curry of White Sands. He graduated from Onate High School in Las Cruces. He earned his bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 2004 and a master's degree in business administration from New Mexico State in 2010. He was commissioned in the U.S. Army as a 2nd lieutenant in 2009.

Jerrel proposed to Haley as she was walking out of her human physiology class, after learning he would be deployed to Germany in April 2011. Haley plans to join her future husband in Germany after completing her degree.